Tag: home improvement

  • 4 Reasons to Invest in Handcrafted Furniture

    4 Reasons to Invest in Handcrafted Furniture

    Do you want a property that looks the same as everyone else, or a home that stands out from the crowd and makes a statement? Furniture is an essential part of your home, but it’s not just about form and function, it should be beautiful as well. Your furniture should make a statement about who you are. When you invest in handcrafted furniture, that’s exactly what you’re doing.

    If you buy your tables, chairs, wardrobes and cabinets from the high street, you’re purchasing items that were made on a furniture production line. There’s still a wide range to choose from, but somehow they all look very similar. You can walk into a friend’s house and identify that their furniture came from Habitat or Ikea. Is it time that you made a real change in your home? Here are just some of the reasons why handcrafted furniture is right for you:
     
    • Turn your furniture into a talking point
    • Enjoy exceptional quality of work
    • Keep traditional crafts alive
    • Cut down your carbon footprint
    Let’s take a look at why handcrafted is so much better than mass produced.

    Let Your Furniture Do the Talking

    Do you like to entertain house guests?
    Dinner parties are a great way to share beautiful food, fine wine, and of course, catch up on all the latest news about the community. What happens while you’re spending time in the kitchen? Your guests start to examine your house more closely. The topic of conversation changes from who’s going to marry whom, to how stylish, or not, your home is. When you invest in beautiful handcrafted furniture, you’re instantly getting one up on all your guests. In the nicest possible way, of course. Sit your guests down around a bespoke rosewood dining table, or invite them to take a decanter from your teak drinks cabinet. When the furniture is handcrafted, it stands above everything else.
    Don’t worry about fitting topics to bring up during the evening, your furniture itself will become the talking point of choice. Handcrafted furniture is
    saying something important about you. It’s saying, ‘I enjoy the finer things in life, and through hard work, I’ve reached the point where I can have them.’

    It’s All In the Detail

    Quality of workmanship is everything. Mass produced furniture may look okay, but it doesn’t have the wow factor that artisan
    made furniture has. The fact is that modern furniture manufacturer isn’t about a craftsman who has spent decades honing his craft, it’s about a person
    programming a computer to tell machinery what to do on a repetitive basis. When you buy handcrafted furniture, you’ll be getting a level of detail that you won’t find in retail chain outlets. The materials used will be more durable too. Large scale furniture suppliers are, understandably, looking to reduce costs and maximise their profits. One way they do this is by buying wood in bulk at bargain prices. Artisan furniture makers, however, place quality as the number one priority. They use high-quality natural wood, and this not only gives it a striking appearance, it makes it more durable and less susceptible to knocks and scuffs. Whether you’re buying vintage chairs, or modern hand made tables, you’ll still receive the same exceptional quality that’s stood out through the centuries. It can cost less than you think as well. Find handcrafted pieces at competitive prices on Wayfair ~affiliate link.

    Preserving Skills for Future Generations

    We live in a consumer-driven world, but it’s also becoming less patient. The average consumer wants something right now, and at as cheap a price as possible. It’s for these reasons that mass produced furniture is becoming increasingly predominant, to the detriment of hand made furniture.
    Discerning consumers, however, realize that patience is a virtue and that it’s worth paying just a little more to have an item of true quality. The skills used in the production of handcrafted furniture have been passed down through the generations, for hundreds of years. Traditional methods of wood carving, furniture turning and carpentry can’t be learned purely on the Internet, they have to be absorbed from a master in the trade. If these skills die out, then they can never be learned again. By purchasing handcrafted furniture, you’re helping to preserve these techniques for your children and grandchildren’s generations.

    Make Your Furniture Greener

    The weather is becoming ever more predictable, and we’ve all seen the devastating results this can bring. Climate change is happening right here, right now, and we need to do all we can to slow it down and then reverse the effects. One of the ways we can help is by reducing our carbon footprint. A great way to achieve this is by buying local whenever possible. Another way is by buying handcrafted goods. Because they are made using traditional methods, handmade furniture consumes much less power during production and there is much less waste of natural resources such as wood. Even if you buy handcrafted furniture online, you’ll be doing your bit to create a more stable and sustainable environment.

     

    About the Author: Paul Moore is a professional writer and blogger, who loves writing on a myriad of topics. He specialises in areas like disability, home improvement, etc.

  • Master Bathroom Reveal

    Master Bathroom Reveal

    I am finally ready to reveal our bathroom makeover. When we purchased our home we didn’t have a single good bathroom. They were both usable, which is all that really mattered, but they needed work. So we decided to start with the Master Bath. Little did we know that we wouldn’t get a chance to use our new bathroom. The following photos were the last thing I got to see in the process, before we moved out and our renters moved in. I assume it is now finished per our renters willingness to install the remaining faucets and trim.

    To keep easy access for any guests on the main level we left a door from the hallway into the bathroom. But for ease of use for ourselves as well (and to avoid being caught unawares from wandering midnight children) we also installed a new door into the new Master Bedroom.

    As you enter at a slight angle from the hallway we are greeted with this gorgeously deep and perfectly slanted bathtub, surrounded by Jeffrey Court Rocky Canyon Glass Mosaic Tile.  We found the tile on a marvelous sale at our local Home Depot store one day. We thought we had enough, but after remeasuring decided we needed more. Since it was no longer stocked in store (we bought all they had previously), we found it again online. 
    Later we hired a contractor to finish everything up and found we again didn’t have quite enough, and had to make another online search and purchase. Thankfully we did find enough to finish it up.
    To the left of the tub will sit the toilet and vanity, and to the right is the walk in shower. One of our last days in our home I sat on the edge of the tub and cried a little. Our vision has come so completely together, it was such a beautiful thing to see. 
    The simplicity of this sink and vanity really brought the room together for me. I wanted the perfect mirror, so we spent a good week or two going to different home decor stores and searching online. Then one day Mark came home and told me he had a mirror he saw at a yard sale. It was black with a few chips, but he knew I would have fun touching it up to fit the rest of the room. I sure did!  A little Elmer’s wood putty and sand paper fixed the chips, and then some blue spray paint brought in the right color to match the tile around the tub. 
    The shower is I think our pride and joy. This used to be a closet in the bedroom, but through a lot of demolition, and rebuilding of walls, we were able to turn it into a shower. And a beautiful shower at that. The Pfister shower head was provided to us by Pfister, and was so easy to install, that if I was a little taller could have done by myself. I was afraid to put a ladder or stool on the new pebble floor, so left it to someone taller. In the corner you can’t see we had installed a handheld shower head as well, giving ample space for everyone to get clean. It was going to work great for washing our dog as well. 
    I hope you enjoyed this reveal!  We miss our home immensely, but as a family we are in a much better spot now. Close to work, relative and old friends. We are making this new apartment our home one empty box and decoration at a time.
  • Tips and Ideas for DIY Home Improvement #GuestPost

    Tips and Ideas for DIY Home Improvement #GuestPost

    It’s been a few years and a lot of ideas plus actual DIY’ing going on for Mark and I. The following article was submitted to me, and I wanted to share with you. Danielle has some great tips for improving your home on a budget.

    Tips and ideas for DIY Home Improvement

    Depending on the rooms that you are renovating, there are many ways you can update and improve your home without breaking the budget. Doing it yourself will save you your hard earned cash and create a home that is truly your own; one that is distinctively your style.

    The first thing you have to decide on is the look and feel that you want for your improved home. Modern chic, cottage cosy or traditional, the style will impact on the colors you choose to paint with, what fixtures you use and the furniture you choose. 

    A tropical aqua paint gave inexpensive wood cabinetry an appealing, authentic look in this Key West, Florida, kitchen.
    image courtesy of my home ideas

    For bedrooms, Avoid big blank walls; it will make a room feel under-scale and empty. Fill a large wall with an extra-large piece of artwork. If your bedroom doesn’t get a lot of natural light, don’t cover up the windows with heavy treatments. Consider sheer curtains to help keep the room bright. Your nightstands don’t have to match. If you prefer a feminine style and your partner likes a more masculine look, choose different ones. Add high-style artwork to your walls with wall decals. You can buy geometric shapes or even nature-inspired wall decals, like whimsical trees, fun silhouettes of chandeliers or even dogs. Your local hardware store, such as Sunlite Mitre 10, will have a lot of these options so when you decide to renovate, you can get everything you need in one place.



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    Unique Nightstands
    image courtesy of HomeGoods

    For the dining room consider using candles instead of pure overhead lighting. Try introducing a subtle scent into the main area of the house to welcome guests and your family after a hard day at work. Instead of buying a whole new dining setting, try reupholstering your beloved dining chairs.


    Bathrooms are often overlooked as renovating them can be quite expensive, but there are some affordable ways to improve your outdated bathroom. Try changing the mirrors to a different shape or changing the light bulb and fixture to something more subtle and inviting. Match up bath mats and rails to create a modern or classic look. You don’t have to pull out the bath to create a new feel.

    Author Bio:
    Danielle Mcann is a copywriter working with SunliteMitre10. When Danielle’s not writing content she enjoys swimming, shopping and taking her Golden Retriever dogs for a walk